Team sprints opened the 2007 Canadain Cross Country Skiing
Championships.This is the first
appearance of this event at a Canadian Nationals and it took place at the
Plains of Abraham in downtown Quebec
City.The organizers
arranged for a great 1.2km course with a short steep uphill right at the start
followed by a more gradual uphill, then a downhill section featuring a couple
of corners and some soft snow and finally a flat stretch into the finish.Each team is made up of two skiers, each
skiing 3 times around the course and tagging off after each lap.
The races started off in the morning with the CCUNC (CanadianCollege and University National
Championships) category.Two of our team
members were scheduled to be a part of this event, Ed and Gavin.Unfortunately, Gavin was feeling a bit under
the weather due to his crazy travel schedule home from Whitehorse (Canada Winter Games) last week
and opted to sit out to rest up for Tuesday’s race.Ed took his spot in the Carleton A team with
fellow Carleton skier Chris Mamen.They
had been 2nd place in the relay at the Ontario championships and were again up
against their rivals, Lakehead.Ed took
it out and did his best to stay with the field and Chris made a nice move
around the corner on his first leg to tag off to Ed in 1st
place.Ed skied a strong second lap and
pulled away from the others, with Chris opening the gap during his leg.They each skied a strong third lap and
finished in a solid 1st place.Lakehead finished in 2nd and Laval was 3rd.The Carleton women finished in 3rd
behind Lakehead and Laurentian.
Next up was the Challenge categories, which are 17 and
under.Ottawa had a great showing here with
Nakkertok finishing in 4th and 5th in the girl’s race.
The rest of our team was up in the afternoon with Tom and
Karl representing the Open Men and Sheila and Megan racing in Open Women.Karl and Tom were in the 2nd heat
of men.They had to finish in the top 5
in their heat to make it to the final.Karl
started out well and passed off to Tom in 3rd position.Tom kept them in position and tagged Karl for
his second leg.Karl was skiing well
until the soft corner where he got tangled up and fell.He came into the tag zone in 7th.Tom caught a couple of guys but in the end
they had to settle for 6th place and unfortunately that ended their
day.
The Open Women’s race was a final only, with 14 teams entered.Sheila and Megan battled among a close field,
finishing in 7th position without much drama.They were 10 seconds out of third.
Overall the format was good, and the event ran
smoothly.Everyone is now getting ready
for tomorrow’s skate race!Stay tuned
for more results and pictures tomorrow.
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